The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner After Yale (Part 5, Chapter 9)

PART FIVE: PHILLIPS, WISCONSIN

Chapter 9

When Bette walked into the Skyline Supper Club, she stopped in the doorway to assess the interior. To her right was an entry into a large dining room, totally empty at this time. To her left was a huge horseshoe bar in the middle of which was an island of assorted bottles of alcohol. Beyond the bar was a conference room and next to that was a good sized banquet room with double doors wide open.

She noticed there was a lone man sitting on a bar stool to the left of the bar. She walked over to the far right side and sat down, almost across from him.

The man was Howie but she did not know that. He had been out driving around Phillips, down Main Street which was comprised of about three blocks of small town businesses, including a movie theater and several taverns. He passed the Gardner house, then drove up what the locals called, “Second Street”, then down third and up fourth. He saw their elementary school, middle school and high school. They had all the things that a typical small town would have and he felt very comfortable being there.

Then he decided to go back to the Skyline and stop at the supper club for a mid-day drink.

He saw Bette walk in but he did not realize it was her.   He watched her stand momentarily in the doorway and he immediately realized just by her physical appearance that she was not from Phillips. There was no doubt she was a very sophisticated woman, out of place in a small town.

He saw her lower her sunglasses, down her nose with a gloved hand to look at her surroundings. When her eyes seem to adjust to the subdued lighting, she took the glasses off and put them in her coat pocket. While she pulled off her gloves, Howie looked at her bountiful dark, curly hair which hung loosely around her incredibly beautiful face.

He saw that she had on a knee-length, black cloth coat that was trimmed with a black faux fur collar and cuffs. He noticed she was also wearing black slacks and high heeled boots and the word, “class” jumped out in front of his eyes. Class, as in one very classy, very hot chick.